The 10 Biggest Mistakes

Nobody's perfect. Humans are often possessed of spectacular
misjudgment, perpetuating errors that can infect their careers,
personal lives, and IRS returns.

(Handy tip: escorts are not tax-deductible, even for world-renowned
Web site operators whose last name rhymes with "bear frog.")

Because MMA has been such a scrutinized industry for so long, the
missteps of its upper management can take on a kind of operatic
stumbling, one that feeds grousing and promotes stilted growth for
years to come.

The most recent example was the IFL's executive decision to portray
their recent debut on network television as an errant episode of
Cops, complete with EMT officials scrambling over a downed athlete
like he had just been gunned down.

The gaffe was only the latest in a sport that's seen its fair
share; there will be more. Contrary to belief, the business of
socking someone in the grill has never been an exact science.

Some of my favorite blunders:

SEG allows Horn-Takase to go on

On the surface, UFC 21 didn't appear to be a crucial program for
the struggling promotion. It was headlined by a largely purposeless
main event between aging stars Maurice Smith(Pictures) and Marco Ruas(Pictures). Worse, it came during the
infamous cable blackout of the late 1990s.

Though the Iowa arena was sparsely populated, it did hold several
important members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who were
on hand to survey the MMA landscape for possible sanctioning.
Highlighting the undercard was a bout between Jeremy Horn(Pictures) and Daiju Takase(Pictures), a tough Pancrase veteran from
across the shores. Horn was competing as a middleweight, which
capped at 199.9 pounds. Officials were told Takase would weigh in
at or near the limit.

When the scale was consulted, he was a scrawny 169 pounds, making
the bout a somewhat obscene mismatch. Incredibly, SEG honcho Bob
Meyrowitz allowed the fight to continue as planned. NSAC officials
watched as Horn overpowered and pummeled a man who rightfully
should've been two weight classes below.

Meyrowitz was told off record not to bother to pursue sanctioning,
since he didn't have the requisite number of votes. How much the
Horn-Takase mauling contributed to their opinion is unknown, but it
obviously didn't help.

International Blight League

Considering his questionable fighting acumen, Wes Sims(Pictures) expiring on television isn't as
unlikely a scenario as one might think. But it certainly didn't
help the IFL's stature as a respectable group that their debut on
network television, Battleground, featured such hyperbolic
stunts as a faux 911 call and the repeated promise of someone
getting strapped to a stretcher.

It was fight promotion by way of Art Davie, and it smacked of
clueless network intervention. The IFL swears that the tactics have
been scrapped for upcoming installments. The one positive:
MyNetworkTV is a black hole of programming, with the IFL barely
improving on the Spanish soap operas their time slot used to host.
Tanto major.

Zuffa locks up Rizzo

Believe it or don't, but there was a time when sluggish Pedro Rizzo(Pictures) was considered the hottest
heavyweight prospect in the sport. He had numerous highlight reels
knockouts to his credit, including a stunning display of amateur
anesthesia over Josh
Barnett(Pictures).

Sensing Rizzo would be a major player in their promotion, Zuffa
locked the Brazilian into to an unprecedented six-fight, six-figure
contract, the downside of which would be paying him a
quarter-million for the final fight.

It was a considerable investment in an athlete who had already
shown a propensity for lackadaisical performances. When Zuffa
discussed closing up shop in 2004, it seems likely that the money
pit that was Pedro Rizzo(Pictures) was not an encouraging
counter-argument.

UFC 33's cup runneth Over

Freshly scrubbed, the "New" Ultimate Fighting Championship and its
owners negotiated a deal to return to pay-per-view television in
2001. While it may seem an alien concept now, with a new promotion
springing up on iNDemand monthly, the sport was ostracized from the
dial for years.

This was big stuff.

In the ensuing excitement over their new lease on life, no UFC
employee thought to sit down and properly manage the allotted time.
As a result, iNDemand lopped over the remaining rounds of the
Tito Ortiz(Pictures)-Vladimir Matyushenko(Pictures) main event. It was an
appropriate climax to what had been a sleeping pill of a program,
one full of sluggish decisions.

The dull bouts and inexplicable production burp delayed the UFC's
eventual success by years, according to president Dana White. That
it didn't bury it for good is some kind of miracle.

"Shogun" Rua posts up

Perhaps Chute Boxe places too much emphasis on cranial trauma and
not enough on the basics. Whatever the case, the regimen probably
got scrutinized after emerging star Mauricio Rua(Pictures) made a costly rookie's
mistake.

His feet ensnared in the action figure-sized arms of Mark Coleman(Pictures), Rua fell down to the mat and
posted his arm to soften the fall. Unfortunately, his arm's
rigidity coupled with the velocity resulted in a dislocated elbow.
Rua howled as chaos consumed the ring, with Chute Boxe allies
brawling with Hammer House alumni like it was a battle for
Sparta.

Rua healed up, but the mistake cost him months of training time and
a fight or two. At least he's still got his smile — providing he
keeps remembering to duck.